Considering a move to Newport...

[WhatonearthwasIthinking]

Hi there - would appreciate anyone thoughts on Newport as a place to live please. Thanks.

I would consider other areas which are also near Bristol - Chepstow, Monmouth or Forest of Dean.

Magor is OK I think, but you need a car, Chepstow would be better and handy for the M48

What do you actually want? Shops within walking distance? Public transport into Bristol?

Don’t do it! There are so many nicer areas of Wales.

Horrible place, I'd give it a big miss.

I can recommend Newport in IoW! Very happy here 😊

If you have £300k to spend you could find something lovely in Cardiff, or Chepstow, or even the outskirts of Bristol. It depends what you want. If you want to be near the sea you could look at Clevedon?
As a retired person wanting to be near Bristol with £300k to spend, I can't think of any sensible reason why you would choose Newport.
I have a lot of love for and happy memories of Newport, but I don't know anyone who would choose to live there unless they really had no other choice.

I dream of moving to Newport , it’s a beautiful little coastal town . The one in Pembrokeshire though .

We'd like somewhere rural with an hour or so of Bristol - all your suggestions are really helpful, thank you.

Rural within an hour of Bristol, you have lots of great options. What else are you after, to help us narrow it down. Town close by or in a town, in a village or remote, rail links, culture, social life, near a hospital, etc etc. For £300k do you want a family house with a big garden, or a small flat/bungalow etc?

Look at Abergavenny, Monmouth, Chepstow, Cwmbran or even Pontypool before Newport.
It is sadly very dire, and council don’t seem to want/can’t improve it.

Go to the Mendips if you need Bristol.

Chepstow and Portishead are both great. Depending on how rural there are lots of lovely villages in the Chew Valley. Or you could go north of Bristol and look around Thornbury, Almondsbury, Yate way.

There are some nice parts of Newport! Caerleon, Ponthir, Langstone and Ridgeway are lovely. Yes, the city centre itself is grim these days but Cardiff and Cwmbrân are good for shops and are in easy striking distance.

Come to Wiltshire or Somerset. Within an hour of Bristol, beautiful countryside and good transport connections in many areas.

Frome, Wells, bath, Bradford on avon

Try the area around Magor / Langstone / Caldicot - I know it well, it's very nice, very friendly, and a range of housing within your bracket. It's north of Newport / to the east of Cardiff, almost on top of the motorway so great road access across South Wales, and into England from Bristol to Birimingham within easy reach.

I'm in Abergavenny - it's a fab place to live. Under an hour to Bristol by car or train. Half an hour to Cardiff on the train. Beautiful countryside, decent town centre, great market. Plenty of fab restaurants, theatre, cinema etc.

Also look at Monmouth, Chepstow and Caerleon. Avoid Newport!!

It’s a great cheap location in easy reach of for Cardiff, Bristol and some great coastline.You can also get to London by train in just over 90 mins.
Ridgeway and Stow Park are nice areas in Newport with great access to the M4

if I was looking to move near Newport, I think I’d be looking at Abergavenny which has some lovely shops and a thriving town. It’s about 25 mins drive from Newport.

I would consider England over Wales from the POV of the NHS

Why? Wales has free prescriptions for all, England doesn't. With the exception of very rural areas (which Newport is not) NHS performance is no worse on Wales, and arguably their planning based approach better reflects need and demand than Englands market based approach. My best friend lives in Anurin Bevan (the health trust running the Newport area) and she has had fantastic service from the NHS. A lot better than my experience in England.

That is definitely true in North Wales - my dad’s regular nurse said if she got something serious she’d rent a bedsit outside Chester to be able to access those hospitals rather than the Maelor or Glan Clwyd.

There are lots of differences.
Very few mental health resources in Wales, for example.
I have a relative who is a therapist in NHS England and there department does not exist in Wales.

But there isn't an NHS Wales, so it isn't comparable. Difference doesn't mean the same as worse. I don't doubt their are failings in both Wales and England - the NHS is underresourced and cannot offer as much as it might anywhere. My friend gets free prescriptions in Wales - that doesn't exist in England. Diffence isn't better or worse, just different. I am neither defending nor supporting Wales (or England) - just saying that a blanket statement that England is better than Wales is not sensible. My friend has had better treatement in the Newport NHS area than anything I have seen in England.

Why are people banging on about free prescriptions? That’s hardly a deciding factor in moving is it?

Oh dear god almighty absolutely no way in hell is Newport a good idea to move to. Drugs drugs drugs and crime. Hell no

Cwmbran on the other hand is minutes away from Newport but has beautiful parks, shopping centre, jobs, loads of supermarkets, lovely people, cheap and expensive housing, activities for children, leisure centre, cinema,schools pubs, tennis courts,theatre etc